As some readers noticed, I had not updated my Savings page for a couple of months. The main reason was that my savings could not be determined accurately for a while. Prior to my mid-summer move to start a new job, I had put aside a few thousand dollars because I knew I would not have any job income in July or in the first half of August. During those months I used my savings to pay for moving-related expenses and to cover my living expenses. In mid-August I received some reimbursements for my moving expenses and at the end of August I finally received the first paycheck from my new job, although the paycheck was for only the last two weeks of August. (My new job officially started in mid-August.) At the end of September I received my first full-month paycheck. Consequently, there was a lot of variability in my income and expenses from July to September, making it difficult to determine accurate savings numbers.
Going forward, it will continue to be difficult to determine my savings on a monthly basis because of how I am paid at my new job. My entire salary is paid over the nine-month academic year (I work at a university), which starts in mid-August and ends in mid-May. As a result, I receive a half-month paycheck for August, full-month paychecks for September through April, a half-month paycheck for May, and then no paychecks for June or July. (In case you're wondering, I inquired about whether my salary could be spread out over the entire calendar year, but the answer was no.) Thus, my monthly job income will vary during the year and there will be massive fluctuations in my monthly savings rate, making it an uninformative measure. Moreover, my savings will no longer correspond directly to new capital available for investment because I will be setting aside some of my savings each month to cover my expenses during the no-income months of June and July.
Given that it no longer makes sense to report my monthly savings, I have decided to switch to reporting my monthly contributions of new capital for investment. Up until early 2013, there was a nearly 1:1 correspondence between savings and contributions, but for the reasons discussed above, that will not be the case from now on. Thus, I have replaced my Savings page with a Contributions page that indicates exactly how much new capital I added to my brokerage accounts in previous months. There will be fluctuations in contributions from month to month because they depend on my savings, but I feel this information will be more useful because it is directly linked to my investing activities. I will now be including a note about contributions in my monthly reviews, starting with my September review (which will be posted in a day or two).
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Stock Bought: WMT
On Tuesday I bought shares of Wal-Mart Stores (WMT), the largest retailer in the world by revenue. Some of my research is summarized in an article about WMT that was published today at Seeking Alpha.
I bought 25 shares of WMT at the price of $73.44 per share plus commission, giving me a 2.55% yield on cost. At the current dividend rate, I can expect to receive quarterly dividends of $11.75 from this purchase, which will add a total of $47.00 to my annual dividend income. My forward 12-month dividend total increases to $2,899. This purchase was made in my taxable account by combining new capital with accumulated dividends. (In fact, some of the dividends that I received on Tuesday were used for this purchase -- now that's rapid selective dividend reinvestment!) WMT becomes the 31st stock in my dividend growth portfolio.
October got off to a quick start on the investing front, with same-day purchases of WMT and XOM. Those purchases used up all the new capital I had just added to my accounts, so there will be no more purchases this month. I plan to sit back and watch as earnings roll in over the next few weeks.
I bought 25 shares of WMT at the price of $73.44 per share plus commission, giving me a 2.55% yield on cost. At the current dividend rate, I can expect to receive quarterly dividends of $11.75 from this purchase, which will add a total of $47.00 to my annual dividend income. My forward 12-month dividend total increases to $2,899. This purchase was made in my taxable account by combining new capital with accumulated dividends. (In fact, some of the dividends that I received on Tuesday were used for this purchase -- now that's rapid selective dividend reinvestment!) WMT becomes the 31st stock in my dividend growth portfolio.
October got off to a quick start on the investing front, with same-day purchases of WMT and XOM. Those purchases used up all the new capital I had just added to my accounts, so there will be no more purchases this month. I plan to sit back and watch as earnings roll in over the next few weeks.
Wal-Mart Stores: A Retail Heavyweight For My Dividend Growth Machine
A new article of mine has been published on the investing website Seeking Alpha. The article is entitled Wal-Mart Stores: A Retail Heavyweight For My Dividend Growth Machine and it provides an overview of WMT, which I purchased two days ago for my dividend growth portfolio.
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Stock Bought: XOM (Again)
Today I bought more shares of Exxon Mobil (XOM), the largest publicly traded oil and gas company in the world. Last week I published an article about XOM
on Seeking Alpha that summarized some information gathered during my research.
I bought 15 shares of XOM at the price of $85.90 per share plus commission, giving me a 2.92% yield on cost. At the current dividend rate, I can expect to receive quarterly dividends of $9.45 from this purchase, which will add a total of $37.80 to my annual dividend income. My forward 12-month dividend total increases to $2,852. This purchase was made in my Roth IRA with new capital that maxed out my contribution for 2013. I now have a total of 30 shares of XOM (15 in my taxable account and 15 in my Roth IRA) and I will receive combined quarterly dividends of $18.90.
When my monthly paycheck hit my bank account yesterday, I determined how much money could be allocated toward investments and transferred $2,800 in new capital to my brokerage, of which $1,235 went into my Roth IRA and $1,565 went into my taxable account. When I looked at my watch list today, I saw that XOM was trading slightly lower than where I had purchased it last week, so I decided to go ahead and double my position. I am now satisfied with the overall size of my XOM position, which is about equal weight (in terms of both market value and dividends) with my CVX position.
I also noticed that another stock on my watch list had reached my target price, so I made a second purchase today, using the new capital in my taxable account. It is a new position in my portfolio and I plan to write an article about it soon for Seeking Alpha. In the meantime, can you guess what stock it is?
Update: A few readers guessed correctly that I started a position in WMT. I just finished submitting an article about WMT to Seeking Alpha that will hopefully be published in the next day or two.
I bought 15 shares of XOM at the price of $85.90 per share plus commission, giving me a 2.92% yield on cost. At the current dividend rate, I can expect to receive quarterly dividends of $9.45 from this purchase, which will add a total of $37.80 to my annual dividend income. My forward 12-month dividend total increases to $2,852. This purchase was made in my Roth IRA with new capital that maxed out my contribution for 2013. I now have a total of 30 shares of XOM (15 in my taxable account and 15 in my Roth IRA) and I will receive combined quarterly dividends of $18.90.
When my monthly paycheck hit my bank account yesterday, I determined how much money could be allocated toward investments and transferred $2,800 in new capital to my brokerage, of which $1,235 went into my Roth IRA and $1,565 went into my taxable account. When I looked at my watch list today, I saw that XOM was trading slightly lower than where I had purchased it last week, so I decided to go ahead and double my position. I am now satisfied with the overall size of my XOM position, which is about equal weight (in terms of both market value and dividends) with my CVX position.
I also noticed that another stock on my watch list had reached my target price, so I made a second purchase today, using the new capital in my taxable account. It is a new position in my portfolio and I plan to write an article about it soon for Seeking Alpha. In the meantime, can you guess what stock it is?
Update: A few readers guessed correctly that I started a position in WMT. I just finished submitting an article about WMT to Seeking Alpha that will hopefully be published in the next day or two.
Friday, September 27, 2013
Stock Bought: XOM
On Tuesday I bought shares of Exxon Mobil (XOM), the largest publicly traded oil and gas company in the world. I have summarized some of my research in an article about XOM
that was published today at Seeking Alpha.
I bought 15 shares of XOM at the price of $87.40 per share plus commission, giving me a 2.87% yield on cost. At the current dividend rate, I can expect to receive quarterly dividends of $9.45 from this purchase, which will add a total of $37.80 to my annual dividend income. My forward 12-month dividend total increases to $2,814. This purchase was made in my taxable account by combining some new capital with accumulated dividends. Exxon Mobil is now the 30th stock in my dividend growth portfolio.
It was nice to make a second purchase this month and to increase my portfolio's diversification in the energy sector. I would not mind buying more shares of XOM if the stock price stays in this area, but a few other stocks on my watch list are also in (or near) attractively valued territory. On Monday I should be getting my first full-month paycheck from my new job, so I look forward to seeing how much of it I will be able to allocate toward investments in October.
I bought 15 shares of XOM at the price of $87.40 per share plus commission, giving me a 2.87% yield on cost. At the current dividend rate, I can expect to receive quarterly dividends of $9.45 from this purchase, which will add a total of $37.80 to my annual dividend income. My forward 12-month dividend total increases to $2,814. This purchase was made in my taxable account by combining some new capital with accumulated dividends. Exxon Mobil is now the 30th stock in my dividend growth portfolio.
It was nice to make a second purchase this month and to increase my portfolio's diversification in the energy sector. I would not mind buying more shares of XOM if the stock price stays in this area, but a few other stocks on my watch list are also in (or near) attractively valued territory. On Monday I should be getting my first full-month paycheck from my new job, so I look forward to seeing how much of it I will be able to allocate toward investments in October.
Exxon Mobil: The Energy Giant Joins My Dividend Growth Machine
A new article of mine has been published on the investing website Seeking Alpha. The article is entitled Exxon Mobil: The Energy Giant Joins My Dividend Growth Machine and it provides an overview of XOM, which I purchased a few days ago for my dividend growth portfolio.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Dividend Increase: MCD
McDonald's (MCD) is increasing its quarterly dividend by 5.2%, from $0.77 to $0.81 per share, putting the company on track for its 38th consecutive year of dividend growth (news release). Given that I own 50 shares of MCD, my quarterly dividend increases from $38.50 to $40.50 and my yield on cost becomes 3.63%. The extra $8.00 in annual dividend income raises my forward 12-month dividend total to $2,776. Thus far this year, there have been dividend increases for 25 of the 29 stocks in my portfolio.
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